A Tale of Three Renaults

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

Right, latest update

The engine is back in!!!! woooooooo

Lowering the engine down into the bay using the ever handy works fork truck

Gently does it

bolt the engine back up whilst supported with the fork truck

and taa daaaa its in

the process of bolting everything else back on to do now . . and adjust the timing, now i have the engine back on the gearbox, i can see from the alignment marks on the gearbox for the flywheel that i am a few degrees out, i will get pics of that tomorrow, started to rain here now so thats it for todays work but i am mega happy that the engine is now back in the ph2 Smile

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

Have also added this beast to my collection of renaults

A 2000 Renault Laguna RT 1.6 16V

OMG a car that i don't have to do anything with . . .

just under 35,000 on the clock, very very clean inside and out, hoping its gonna be a good basic reliable backup for the 19.

The black chammy is now in storage, that one will be set upon at a later date.

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

how is it a few degrees out? the cambelt a tooth out?

also you must have wee lasdy hands yo be able to bolt the inlet back on in situ! Laughing

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

i think its a couple of teeth out, i fitted the cambelt, tensioner and idle pully when the engine was out of the car so used my old marks i had made on the crank pully and it was all line up perfect on those markings, it turns over fine by hand too.

but when i put the engine back onto the box, with the cams lined up correctly

i took a look at the timing mark on the flywheel to ensure that was lined up and its not.

shame you cant see the mark on the flywheel in the next pic

but its just below the first mark on the left on the box.
so of course i got to untenstion the belt, turn the crank so the mark lines up with the 0 and realign the cams and put the belt back on and re-tension it.

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

a few other pics i had on my camera

the workshop lol

the most important tools to have . .

and for simonds, this is how u get it that high off the ground

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

Almost there, been a good day today, almost everything bolted back onto the car now, did the gearbox and engine oil as well.
just got the starter motor brackets to put on with its wiring and heat shield, put on the rear heatsheild to cover the brake pipes, fit the ICV, put all the hoses back on and do a coolant flush and fill it up.
connect up the battery and hope she will start lol.

and the final one is a pic of the lagunas engine to show the differences

so tomorrow with weather permitting we shall see if all the hard work has paid off and she goes again.

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

well the car is back in one piece (with the exception of the starter motor heat sheild, bottom and top cambelt covers)

everything bolted back together, checked and double checked, engine oil filled to max on the dipstick, ATF in the gearbox filled to the max, coolant filled up, battery charged, one final look over and i connected the battery . . .

key into the ignition, ignition on, fuel pump primed, all looks normal on the dash display and turn the key . . .

it coughed as the fuel got into the injectors and fired up, vroooooomm!!

top end is very rattley but to be expected, the head has not seen oil since january when that engine was last run, so i let her sit on idle as i checked under the bonnet, some steam coming up from around the exhaust manifold, quite a bit to start with but lessening, all the belts turning as they should, idle pully and tension pully spinning nicely, sounds like it may be rubbing too much thou so maybe i ought to let the tension off just a tad.

so i had a smoke whilst letting the engine warm up, top end still very noisey thou, worrying, engine up to temp, let her sit a little longer until the fan cuts in for the first time.

engine has been running about 15 minutes now, top end still very rattly Sad

so i turn the engine off, put away my tools and restart it, a little hesitant but she fired up again, idleing bang on 950 rpm, temp is happy but still that rattly top end, not happy with that.

so will it move under its own power, i pressed the clutch and put her into first, handbrake off and slowly up with the pedal . . .

woooo she moved under her own power!!! first time in 6 weeks, i had a huge smile on my face until . . . tried to put it into reverse, wtf! cant get it in reverse at all.
turned engine off, tried putting the box into reverse, nope, aint bloody having it so whats up with that ???

finished cleaning up, putting my tools away etc then went to start the 19 again, she would not start 3rd time, just turning over very slowly.

so looks like 6 weeks of effort and time and money has all been for nothing! Sad

i have the battery off back on charge now. not a happy bunny.

Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 12:52 pm

Ah shit mate, lets hope its nothing to serious!, gear selector? tappets? take a break and have another look tomorrow

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

adjust the selector.

Starter was probably to hot due to no heat shield so it will turn over fine when it cools.

Tappets, these can take a while to fill, you got enough oil in the engine? JB's engine rattles like a bag of nails all the time from the top end.

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

cheers Chris, tappets were a lot quieter today but i still have like a ticking noise constantly from the top end, like i said this engine has not been run since January, could it be that the lifters have some dried gunky oil stuck in them and some of that wynns tappet cleaner will shift it?

i'm at work at the mo so can't play with the selector until this evening.

also after having had the car all apart and got everything else bolted back on correctly, i can not for the life of me remember how the damn starter motor heat sheild goes back on lol Embarassed

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

aye try some cleaner in it.

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

well . . i have just driven it home and OMG, its fast as fuck!
well compared to the laguna hehe
it just felt so different to how i remember the car, this engine is defo more powerful than the last one that was in it.
the steering as well just feels so much better, no wobble, no seesawing the steering wheel back and forth to keep it in a straight line, it cornered like it was on rails, so glad i changed out the rack and column whilst the engine was out.
brakes were worse than i remember thou or it could just be that i have gotten used to the laggys brakes which are incredibly good.

was embarresing thou having to push the car backwards into the parking space thou, hehe, will get it up in the air in a bit and sort out the selector.

couple of things thou, when i pulled up outside the house a big puff of smoke came out of the bonnet vent, popped the bonnet and its smoking by the exhaust manifold, could just be burning off spilt oil, time will tell and how do i bleed the power steering, its been topped up since i changed the rack out but there is air in the system, u can hear the rack whining on full lock.

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

turn the wheel lock to lock to bleed it and when on full lock they all make noise.

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

is that it to bleed the rack ? i take it the air just gets pushed to the fluid container then ?

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

yes

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

nice one, cheers Chris.

right i have done 50 miles in it since the engine went back in, still getting some smoke from the exhaust manifold and that ticking noise is still there, maybe a dead lifter ?

starting the car first time from cold, the starter is a little hesitant but after 2 whirrs it spins over faster and starts the engine
I think that is down to the earth strap thou, the one from the bulkhead to the rear lifting mount on the head, the copper wires have frayed big time so will stick a new earth strap on it.

i think this weekend i will check all the bolts again, make sure they are nice and tight now its had some running time, would it also be wise to retorque the head bolts at the same time ?

Mr Quoter-vator Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 7405

head bolts dont need re-torquing. assuming you did them right firstly.

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

aye, they was done right the first time Smile

and regarding the reverse gear problem, i had to slacken the bolt off and it now goes into reverse, but the gear lever feels loose as hell.
maybe stick a stiffer retaining spring on it.

Mr Quoter-vator Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 7405

ive lost track....is it the original blue hatch...with the black p1 chammy engine?

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

nope its the blue ph2 hatch with the engine from the white ph1/ph2 hybrid

the black chammy is in my parents garage awaiting a new engine when time and money allows. (prolly circa 2008 at this rate lol)

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

right, have needed to change the passenger door on the ph2 for a while now, some chav attempted to break into the car but failed however they left a nasty mess of the doorlock

what i had originally planned was getting the lock removed and the metalwork sorted out and repainted but i did not fancy trying to match the paint up so about a week ago a door came up on ebay in good condition and in 449 blue.
i bought it for the princely sum of Â£2.20 and collected it, the seller only lived 15 miles away so hardly anything spent on collection - bargain!

the new door in the back of the laguna, the laguna makes a good van Smile

so on with the task, needed the door card from the old door to go onto the new one as the new one had different trim.

trim and door stay off, put the trim and door stay onto the replacement door.

then to take the old door off, used my trolly jack to support the door and went about undoing the door pins, they have a thread on them so need to be unscrewed, top one came out as it should but the bottom looked like this

no tool would shift it so in the end i used a chisel and hammer and slowly chiseled it round until the thread was totally out and i could bang the pin through.

door off at last!

put some copper grease in the door hinges on the car and attached the new door, got some new door pins from renault, Â£1.65 each and used those to bolt the door back on, bolted the door stay on and

new door on Smile

job done